The Love Among the Rite of Spring
by PinkyandtheBrainfan88
Summary: Was the story all just a spring ceremony - or was there something deeper in between the lines..? First chapter of a midquel type thing to The Rite of Spring ballet.
1. Chapter 1

Spring would usually have come by now, everyone would feel it. Though the tribe had no clocks or calendars, they could feel the frost was not melting fast enough.

This forced many members of the tribe to stop hunting and worship the earth. If they earth was not worshipped enough, they thought, the Gods would not melt the snow in time before the food supplies for the winter ran out.

As a group of men danced on the freezing ground, bending and jerking their bodies to worship and love the earth and the Gods above them, an older man collecting firewood jumped and danced around the groups, though he was old and feeble. As he did so, he asked the younger men what they thought of this oncoming misfortune.

Many were positive, certain that if they were just faithful enough to their Gods that spring would soon come. Others were more worried, wondering if they should take desperate measures to bring spring closer.

There was one villager who was there, but in his mind he was somewhere else. He was in one of the cosy village homes, the furs and sticks that made the roof kindly sheltered him from the bitter snowfalls of the season. One of the "mysterious maidens", a group of young girls who had developed a cult of white clothing that would not make them too hot in summer and camouflage them in snow from bears and wolves, was warming some bread stored for the winter. The villager, whose name was Mikail, calmly watched the maiden, Silvana, observing how absorbed she was in her activity. Turning around briefly, she noticed that Mikail was watching her and she nearly jumped with surprise. Mikail apologized, commenting that he was looking forward to the bread she was preparing so wonderfully. She blushed awkwardly and then thanked him. He smiled so warmly that the mainly solitary and unsociable Silvana smiled back. She felt it polite to make conversation, about the success of last autumn's crop, then about the severity of the winter, then she talked about how much more time she should spend on worshipping and praying if the season proceeded on any worse.

Mikail was impressed by her practicality and faith in the tribe's religion. He himself secretly questioned how much the Gods played a part in what happened in this world. Why would they want human sacrifices, babies dying of horrible fevers and good, innocent people being ill-treated by horrible people? Silvana did not seem to question this, yet she still seemed to be a contented, quite happy young woman.

Silvana generally did not like people. Her father had bossed her about, never saying a kind word to her and her mother was always too busy looking after Silvana's older and younger siblings to pay much attention to her. However, this Mikail seemed very interested in her, he was gentle, slow and most of all, kind. Without even realizing, she was developing very strong feelings for him.

Sadly, after that time, Mikail and Silvana found very little time together, she was involved in "woman" chores and he desperately tried to capture and kill deeer for the tribe, after all their goats and cows and bulls had perished in the snow.

Remembering wonderful Silvana briefly, Mikail had to return to his ritual. It was his duty, even though he was sure it would not make much different. Maybe the Gods did exist and would fulfil their hopes?

Just then, a few of the wives came outside, also dancing for the earth, making chants in respect for the earth. They moved more in line than the men had done, it seemed as if they had planned their own dance before coming out. The chant, at first smooth, grew more and more hurried and frantic, as the women danced slower. Suddenly, almost as if they had risen from under the ground., five mysterious maidens sprung up and quickly danced to the womens' chant, stamping on the ground to symbolise how much they disliked it in its current state.

Mikail had not noticed the mysterious maidens before, as he danced and prayed he had not been able to notice them. He was disappointed that none of them were Silvana and supposed she must be inside, helping the tribe in some way or another.

Eventually, after having stopped to watch the women dance for a minute or so, the men began to join in with them.


	2. Chapter 2

For quite some time, as the sun began to come out and help to melt the frost, the men collaborated their dances with the wives and mysterious maidens. Soon they had a beautiful show for the Gods, changing places and sharing chants. After several minutes of intent dancing and chanting, most of the tribe members were exhausted, but still wanted to pray to the Gods and the earth. They slowed down and bent their whole bodies, like trees bending in the wind, towards the ground they so wanted to become healthy and good for crops.

As the men and women were bent to the earth, a few men from a rival tribe, "inspecting" what this tribe was doing, called out and interrupted the prayers.

The wives screamed, the mysterious maidens tried to hide in the frost. They were right to be afraid, men from the rival tribe were unmerciful, often even to women and children. Mikail was a strong fighter, he often helped to fight off these men.

Squaring up with the intruders, Mikail and a few of the other tribesmen began fair fights with the enemy tribe. Mikail punched, boxed, kicked and jumped. His opponent, though a horrible brute, was young and not well-trained in fighting. Mikail was about to strangle his opponent, when he agreed to let him live as long as he would personally not harm this tribe in any way. Frightened, the enemy swore by the Gods above not to attack again and ran off with the rest of the rivals.

Only one of Mikail's tribe had been injured during the conflict, but he luckily was still just well enough to live to see many more days.

The men calmed the flustered women, as they danced and chanted with them and as they soothed them. As the air grew warmer, they grew more relaxed, but were still worried about how much the Gods would listen to their prayers.

Mikail realized several minutes later that two men had left. These were particularly religious men, why they would stop prayers so soon baffled him. Very shortly though, Mikail understood where they had gone.

There was a loud call from the two men, shouting for everyone to stop praying for the moment and that they would find out what they needed to do to worship the Gods sufficiently.

The two men brought the Wise One, the oldest and most respected man in the tribe. The Wise One was, at his request, lowered to the ground by the young men. He lay on the earth, practically kissing it. Mikail was glad he was not the Wise One, never would he have been able to deal with the cold on his face.

The Wise One eventually signalled to be lifted up. Once he was on his feet, he peered into the sky. Suddenly, his eyes widened like his mouth and he shouted that the Gods would need a sacrifice before spring would return.

This sent everyone into a frantic panic. The wives wailed and flailed their arms, the mysterious maidens cowered and remained deathly silent and the men busied about, preparing themselves for a sacrificial ceremony. They would be all right. None of _them_ would be sacrificed. The Gods wanted women, women at their youngest and most beautiful, preferably.

The sacrifice would be performed tomorrow and the mysterious maidens agreed that one of them would die.

Upon hearing this, Mikail was immediately worried. It could be any of them, even Silvana...

He had to see her. As much as possible. Before it might be too late.


	3. Chapter 3

That evening, everyone retreated indoors, except for those who had lately started hunting and were still out in the intense cold.

Mikail searched all the houses for Silvana, desperate to talk to her and eventually he found her with the other mysterious maidens, preparing white dye for a new member of the cult.

All of them were surprised to see Mikail as he entered, being the only man in the hut. Therefore, everyone – apart from Silvana – felt cold towards him.

Silvana ventured to ask Mikail how he was and how much he had prayed that day. Mikail replied that he had had much time to pray, but he felt worried about tomorrow. Silvana seemed confused at this, as if nothing important was happening tomorrow. Mikail then beckoned her outside and with a few glaring looks from some of the other women, Silvana was excused from the circle. As soon as she was outside with Mikail, he gave her his cloak to borrow. Even though it was brown cow leather, she accepted it gratefully.

"The reason I'm worried about tomorrow," Mikail told Silvana, "is because I'm worried you'll be chosen for the sacrifice."

Silvana replied in utter shock, "Why would you be worried about _me_? I'm no-one special."

"You are, Silvana," Mikail whispered to her softly. "And the reason I'm worried about you is because I love you. You're sweet, beautiful, but most of all, you're different. You're not like any of the girls in the tribe, not even any of the mysterious maidens. I came to see you tonight because, if you die tomorrow, I want to say goodbye."

This was too sudden for Silvana. Not only had she believed she was unloved, but she would never have guessed that Mikail, the wonderful kind Mikail, had these feeling for her.

"Oh Mikail," she sobbed quietly, her face nestled in the furs on his chest. "I love you too. I am so glad you love me and I am so glad you're here tonight. But Mikail..."

"Yes, my sweet?" His voice was a warm breeze in the wind.

"It may be the Gods' will that I die tomorrow. But even if I do, I shall not die in vain. I would bring spring, so you can plant the crops in time and so no-one else will perish from the cold much longer. Do not miss me so much if I go, Mikail, do not be too upset. For now, let us live in the present and love each other."

"Yes, but let us go just behind this hut, where we would be sheltered from the wind."

Directly behind the house where Silvana had just been, the two cuddled up to each other and kissed. It was the most wonderful thing that had happened to them. They touched each other, rubbing each other to keep themselves warm.

"I am so happy," whispered Mikail.

"Me too my love, me too," replied Silvana.

They then had to part, but promised each other they would meet first thing in the morning by the oldest, biggest oak tree, where they could pray and be together before the sacrificial ceremony around noon. Not quite satisfied, but very blissfully, the new couple went to their beds and fell into the deep land of sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Before the sun rose that morning, a hut collapsed in the village. It was one of the older ones and could not take the weight of the night's snow. Buckling under the weight of heaps of the settled flakes, it tumbled into a mess of mud, stone, straw and human bodies.

Ten people slept in the hut that night, only one woman awoke as she heard the straw on the roof sinking into the house. She had enough time to drag her husband from his bed, take her only baby son and run out just as the house became a pile of earth.

The mysterious maidens and the strongest of the men were awoken to recover the seven who had died in their sleep. All were mortified and shocked at such a terrifying and unexpected event and immediately rushed into the dark of the morning to do what they could.

Silvana, tired from not having as much sleep as her companions, struggled as she lifted off piles of debris and dragging out the crushed bodies of the unfortunate villagers. Her feet were partly exposed to the frozen snow, as with her blurry sight she had not been able to properly do up her shoes. Suffering horribly from sleepiness and cold, Silvana helped, despite her state, as much as the other mysterious maidens helped to uncover the dead villagers.

Resulting from the work of eigtheen people, before the sun rose, seven bodies were lying side by side, separated from the mess which had been their home.

The mysterious maidens were permitted to go back to their hut, but would have to prepared chants for the funeral.

Silvana was exhausted, but she knew she would have to stay awake today, nothing would hinder her. She would go through the funeral, the sacrificial ceremony and just before that, her meeting with Mikail. Her heart missed a beat as she thought of him, just with him in her mind helped Silvana to keep awake and carry on through the morning.

While the mysterious maidens readied themselves for a funeral, Mikail was shaken awake by his comrade Tavan, one of the men who had helped remove the seven dead from the heap of mud and straw.

"Mikail!" he shouted. "I have bad news. Seven villagers died during the night, including some of our best women."

This news scared Mikail as it had scared Tavan. "What happened?" he blurted incredulously.

"Apparently there was so much snow on the roof of their hut that it collapsed, making the rest of the dwelling collapse too. Three people survived, if it weren't for them, ten people would have died and we might not have known the cause of death!"

"Indeed..." breathed Mikail confusedly, pulling himself up to his feet and readying to see Silvana. He knew that the meeting might be delayed because of the huge accident, but there was little time to waste before today's frightening ritual.

By the time Mikail went outside, most of the village were awake, wandering over to gaze at the ruined house and lament their lost ones. Among those who had died were a healthy, stunningly beautiful unmarried woman and one of the village's best fighters. Their loss was felt very acutely and when everyoen was told the cause of death, they all knew what to blame the tragedy on: winter.

"This sacrifice today will solve all our problems!" one old woman shouted.

"Finally the mysterious maidens will be of some use," spat a young man.

Mikail scowled as he pushed past him, making his way to the hut of the mysterious maidens.

Just before he entered the house Silvana came out, on her way to the oak tree. Realizing Mikail was by her side already, she smiled gladly, clutched his hand and they left the gloomy air of the village to arrive in the sunny land of the old oak tree.


	5. Chapter 5

Once they were away from the hustle and bustle of the village full of excited, shocked people, Mikail and Silvana embraced by the oak tree. Silvana was just in ecstasy at his side, but there were many thoughts troubling Mikail. Out of the twelve mysterious maidens, would poor, good, true Silvana be chosen for the Gods, to die that day for spring to come faster? Also, their behaviour together might seem somewhat inappropriate to the older men in the tribe, by now Mikail ought to have betrothed to Silvana. Mikail tried to push his demonic thoughts off his mind and instead concentrate solely on the angelic qualities of his love, but he could not. Too much did he treasure every single second with Silvana, too much did he he want her with him for the rest of his days.

They ended up leaning against the tree, holding hands rather than hugging.

"You seem to not mind my small stature, my large nose,and the dimple on my chin," Mikail commented playfully to Silvana. "How could you possibly love a man as unappealing as I am?"

Realizing it was a tease, Silvana laughed and then seriously replied, "It is not for your looks that I love you. You have a fine, strong air, you have blessed manners and a good, kind, true heart. You are also knowledgeable of other people You are modest in your knowledge, which shows your humble side. You are the best man I have ever met, so I can little help being in love with you. And it is not just for my _looks _that you love me, my good man?" she nudged him playfully, grinning with humour as she had never done before.

"Of course not my treasure," he whispered, clutching her shoulders gently. "You are very sweet, humble, modest and kind. You are so strong and you excel in all your work. Not only are you stunningly beautiful, but you are such a wonderful person, with a likeable personality."

Silvana kept blushing, betraying the white of her attire. Instead of saying more she again hugged Mikail, wonderful, good Mikail. They then gave each other one last gentle kiss, before they both heard the leader of the mysterious maidens shout:

"Silvana! Funerary preparations!"

"I must leave you," sighed Silvana. "We will hopefully have time together soon."

"Indeed, goodbye my sweet."

As Mikail stayed by the tree, Silvan rushed across the snow, the front of her dress in one hand. He thought briefly of the people who died in the night. Mikail had not been well-acquainted with any of them, but acknowledged that it was a dear loss to the community. Two unmarried women, two able farmers, one healthy wife and two young children had been crushed underneath the roof and walls of their home, no longer protected by their once trusted sanctuary.

After several minutes of standing and doing nothing, Mikail began to pace slowly towards the village. His brother Wellem ran up to meet him, his face grim with anxiety.

"Mikail! I was looking _everywhere_ for you! Where have you _been_? Oh never mind, the elders wanted you to go out with a hunting party, else we won't have a sufficient amount of food for the funeral and the sacrificial ceremony."

Mikail, nodded, ran off, stared at the ground and scowled. He disapproved of the "celebrations" of funerals and sacrifices, why there should be feasts at these times he had not an inkling. Nevertheless, the village would need more meat at some point and at least he would leave the gossiping, grumbling air of the village for a few hours or so.

Meanwhile, Silvana was beginning to work very hard. She needed to rush about from certain huts passing on supplies, errands and messages to mysterious maidens throughout the village. Secretly, Silvana's leader was angry with her for being distracted by the dirty, flirtatious Mikail and decided making Silvana work so hard would be a fit punishment.

Until the funeral, Silvana had virtually no rest, only one cup of water to drink and no food. Having had no nourishment had a very profound effect on Silvana, she developed a searing headache, lost strength to rush from house to house as fast as she was ordered and she only barely managed to run her errands well.

Mikail had less of a hard time. Although he had to stay crouching for over fifteen minutes at a time, waiting to shoot animals in the depths of the forest, the weather was not as bitingly cold as it had been, Mikail did not need to work so hard and he had a little food and water even before he left to hunt.

The hours passed slowly, Silvana rushed about performing errands and Mikail crouched and ran across the snow to shoot deer. At noon that day, the funeral began.


End file.
